BATON ROUGE, La. — Oklahoma ace Jonathan Gray, picked third overall Thursday by the Rockies in the Major League Baseball draft, was living up to his billing when he recorded his ninth strikeout to start the bottom of the eighth.

Then JaCoby Jones belted a towering triple to right center, and pinch-hitter Tyler Moore followed with a double to the right-field wall to bring home the game’s first run.

“We had them right where we wanted them,” Gray said. “I just did not throw a couple of pitches with conviction like I wanted to.”

Mark Laird had three hits, the last a run-scoring single in the eighth in LSU’s 2-0 victory over the Sooners.

The Tigers (56-9) can advance to the College World Series for the 16th time by beating Oklahoma (43-20) once more Saturday or Sunday.

Aaron Nola (12-0) struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in a two-hitter to help LSU snap Oklahoma’s winning streak at eight.

Gray (10-3) allowed two runs on five hits through 7 ⅓ innings. He struck out nine and walked two.

In Fullerton, Calif., Eric Filia broke a 10th-inning tie with an RBI single — his fourth hit of the game — and Pat Valaika drove in another run with a sacrifice fly as UCLA defeated Cal State Fullerton 5-3 victory in Game 1 of their series. The Associated Press

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson had butterflies before Sunday's game against the Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't because of the big-name opponent, but rather his return from a 13-game injury absence and being stoked to rejoin a team in a playoff push and looking for its third postseason appearance in 10 years.